Automated guided vehicles are widely used for conveying articles in production lines, warehouses, and among various laboratories in hospitals and clinics. Such AGVs are typically computer controlled to deliver materials between designated locations, and are equipped with drive wheels and steering mechanism to guide the vehicle along a predetermined path.
While there are many types of control systems for AGVs, which permit the vehicle to travel a fixed route while transporting specimens or materials from one designated location to other designated locations. One navigation method utilizes a wire embedded in the ground which emits a radio frequency signal on which the vehicles can be moved between designated locations. Other AGVs will follow a designated path painted or applied to the floor.
One particular area in which AGVs have become quite useful is in the transport of clinical specimens among various laboratories at a hospital or research institution. However, one of the problems which arises in the clinical laboratory setting is the lack of a system to alert workers within a laboratory that a specimen is present on the AGV for testing and/or analysis. Thus, the vehicle is either forced to remain at the laboratory location until such time as a laboratory worker sees the vehicle, or the vehicle must continue with the fixed route until completed. Any specimens which were not retrieved from the vehicle would then be stored at the end of the route or returned to the initial location.